Zellwood Center Uses Old-fashioned Ways To Fund Expansion

ZELLWOOD — Community center members have borrowed a chapter from the center's past to help build for its future.

Old-fashioned fund-raising techniques similar to those that built the center nearly 40 years ago are paying for the expansion that officials expect will be completed by early 1986.

Construction of the 1,000-square-foot addition that will connect the original center and its library is being financed by semiannual rummage sales, bake and plant sales, art and craft sales, and occasional festivals, melodramas and other shows at the center.

Donations also have helped, said center president George Kluhsmeier, who estimated that about half of the center's funds are donated.

The addition -- under construction for about a year -- will have a foyer, kitchen and storage room, large restrooms and wheelchair access.

''What's going on now is very much in the tradition of the first 10 years,'' Kluhsmeier said.

Construction of the center began in 1946 and was financed by events such as 25-cent chicken dinners and turkey raffles, he said.

Cost of the addition is expected to be $30,000, half of which has been raised.

Unfinished work includes wiring and plumbing, floor covering, heating and air-conditioning equipment, and interior walls.

The center on Union Street hopes to raise about $2,000 of the remaining $15,000 needed with a rummage sale and contributions Saturday and Sunday.

The center struggled in its early years, boosted by the dinners, raffles and other fund-raising events, donations and volunteer labor.

Chester C. Fosgate sold about 3 1/2 acres for $1,000 to the group planning the center, then donated $500 of that amount to the center's building fund.

By May 11, 1948, construction was far enough along that the founders held their first meeting in the building, a cement block shell with a dirt floor, no roof, no windows and no plumbing.

Construction had been projected to cost $5,000 to $6,000, but by the end of the center's fourth year the cost had increased to more than $8,000. More chicken dinners, raffles, bazaars, fashion shows and plays helped to pay the bills.

''At the end of the fifth year, we were close to what we are now, except for the ceiling. We had a roof and floor and furniture and even a stage with curtains,'' Kluhsmeier said.

The building was developed as a youth center, but by its sixth year its purpose had expanded and it became the Zellwood Community Center.

The center became not only Zellwood's geographic center but also its social center, Kluhsmeier said.

The center property has increased to 5 acres and facilities include tennis courts, a softball diamond, bike trail and a playground. There are monthly potluck dinners combined with an open house, and free activities for Zellwood children in July. The July activities are funded by several churches and organizations.

The fall rummage sale will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and will start at 1 p.m. Sunday and last until items are gone -- usually within an hour. Sunday is the sale's traditional dollar day and customers can pay $1 to carry out all they can in a heavy-duty garbage bag.